Williams memorial planned for Monday
A memorial service will be held Monday for former Spokane resident Mark Williams, a well-known musician and composer who was stabbed to death Thursday at his Bellingham home. His son, who suffers from schizophrenia, is accused of the crime.
The memorial will be held at 1 p.m. at Spokane Valley Baptist Church, 1222 S. McDonald Road in Spokane Valley.
In addition to his full-time work composing and arranging music for school bands, Williams had served as conductor and artistic director for the Spokane British Brass Band, which will perform at the service.
The Williams family requests that any memorial donations be made to NARSAD, formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, at www.narsad. org/form.php?type=memorial or by mail to: NARSAD, 60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 404, Great Neck, NY 11021.
Spokane Valley
School district seeking new leader
The Central Valley School District has launched a national search for a new superintendent.
Superintendent Mike Pearson announced in November that he plans to retire in June.
The school board hired Northwest Leadership Association, a Washington-based search firm, to assist in the process of finding a replacement.
The district will begin gathering input from staff and community this month on the characteristics desired in the leader for Spokane County’s second-largest school system.
Two community forums have been scheduled: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at South Pines Elementary School, 12021 E. 24th; and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at the Central Valley Kindergarten Center, 1512 N. Barker Road.
A survey is also available online at www.cvsd.org.
Spokane
Speed blamed for two-car crash
Three people were injured Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle collision that shut down traffic on North Division Street for about an hour.
According to the Washington State Patrol, 18-year-old Dmitriy V. Shatskiy was driving his 1997 Honda Civic too fast southbound when he lost control about 9 a.m. and crossed into the northbound lanes.
Shatskiy struck a northbound 2002 Ford Escort driven by 54-year-old Steven Shultz, who had a 7-year-old boy in the car with him. They were taken to hospitals, Trooper Jeff Sevigney said.
All three were properly restrained, Sevigney said. Shatskiy was cited for driving too fast for conditions. Both vehicles were totaled by the impact.
OLYMPIA
Gregoire opposes suicide initiative
Gov. Chris Gregoire doesn’t support former Gov. Booth Gardner’s plans for an assisted suicide initiative.
Gardner’s leading a coalition that says terminally ill patients should be able to get lethal prescription drugs if they want to end their lives.
Gardner, who is 71 and has Parkinson’s disease, says this will be his last campaign. He plans to file the initiative today.
But Gregoire said she finds it very difficult on a personal level to support assisted suicide, even though her heart goes out to Gardner.
Assisted suicide supporters need about 225,000 signatures by July to get the measure on the November ballot. It’s patterned after a law approved by Oregon voters.
Attempts to pass a similar law failed in Washington in 1991.
BOISE
48 prisoners coming back from Texas
Idaho plans to bring 48 prisoners home from Texas within two weeks because overcrowding has eased at prisons across Idaho.
The prisoners coming back are now at the Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas.
Idaho has more than 500 inmates in Texas and Oklahoma prisons.
This move also means that for now, Idaho won’t have to ship as many as 54 inmates being housed temporarily in Littlefield to another prison near the Mexico border.
State correction officials say that a slowdown in sentencing, coupled with increased paroles, has created more beds in Idaho prisons.
Many of the inmates coming home are also nearing their release dates. Still, Idaho officials say this doesn’t mean concerns about overcrowding have diminished.
SEATTLE
Man gets 7 years for part in killing
A 52-year-old Arlington man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in a 2001 killing perpetrated by two members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.
Paul Foster pleaded guilty in September to being an accessory after the fact of Michael Walsh’s murder. According to prosecutors, Walsh angered his killers by falsely claiming to be a Hells Angel.
Prosecutors said Foster invited Walsh to a party at his house in summer 2001, knowing that Hells Angels would be there. After Walsh was shot to death, Foster helped dispose of the body in a Snohomish County ravine, destroyed evidence and lied to police.
Foster told authorities he did it because he hoped to join the motorcycle club.